Ending AU: Josh survives
by smnius
Summary: AU where Sam and Chris goes back to save Josh. Everyone survives. One-shot.


"Sam? Where's Josh?"

The comfort of the peace and silence of dawn quickly grimaced at those words.

Sam turned to face Chris, the glow of the still-raging fire lighting upon the pained expression riddled on his face. "The… Wendigo got him." Tight-lipped, she replied.

"What?"

Sam turned from the fire to face the anguish in those tired, pale eyes. "I'm sorry-"

"No… no no, that can't be right-"

Ashley placed a hand on his shoulder. "Chris-"

"No. All those fucking bastards died in that fire. We SAW to that." The desperation in his voice echoed coldly through the forest. "He's NOT fucking DEAD, Sam. W... We have to go back for him-"

"It's too late, Chris. Mike saw him being taken." Ashley pleaded, a knot in her throat. "Please, please don't go back out there- The rescue team will be here any second. Just let him go - there's no way he'd still be… "

"Yeah. Not for this long on his own." Emily said under her breath.

"That's why we're going back for him-"

"Let it _GO_. Chris." Mike snarled.

At those words, the wind howled. Silence froze over them all.

"What happened to Josh, Micheal?"

A sudden chill stabbed at Mike's spine.

"Mike." Chris' voice was slow, heavy, cold. " _What did you do_?"

"I couldn't have saved him anyhow-"

Chris yanked him by the collar. "You left him to _DIE_?!" Sudden hostility lit the air like wildfire. Ashley and Sam ran to pull the two off each other, and Emily stepped away from the fight as if it were a short fuse, ready to blow. "You _LEFT_ him?!"

"What good would he be to us? Huh?!" Mike grabbed Chris by the wrists and easily thrown him off his grip. "The last person _my_ survival guides suggests we let tag along is some… crazy avenging lunatic-"

Chris snapped. "He was _ILL_ , you _fucking COWARD_ -"

"Alright, CUT IT OUT!" Sam wedged herself in between the two at each other's throats. "Me and Chris are going to take a quick look around the mines for Josh. Mike, Ash, Em, you guys stay by the house and wait for rescue."

Mike scoffed, shrugging Chris off him. "You can't be serious."

"Uh… yeah Sam, rescue's gonna come and go without you." Emily laughed. "Don't get too attached to this place now."

"If rescue comes, just direct them to that cave opening." Sam adjusted her messy bun and began to tread away towards the slowly lightening horizon. "We'll meet you there."

Mike bit his tongue. "Fine. Just… Don't say I didn't warn you."

"I think we can handle ourselves, Mike." Sam retorted. "C'mon Chris."

Chris turned to Ashley, panic was alight in her watering eyes as she stood before him, shaking in the freezing cold. "No… nonono- please don't go-" She cried.

"I will come back, Ash."

"Chris-"

"Look, I can't just leave him. Josh- Josh needed help, and I failed him. We all failed him." Chris' voice trembled, his blue eyes darted frantically as he spoke. "I'm… I'm supposed to be his best friend. I can't do this to him again. You understand, right?"

Ashley was silent, head hanging, words stuck in her throat. She sighed, defeatedly, and took Chris' hands into hers. "…Yeah."

Chris kissed her trembling, bruised hands and flashed her a longing look. "And I won't lose you." He chuckled softly. "Not again. We've come so far. I mean, maybe if it wasn't for him I… I could never- Not in my wildest dreams-"

"Go on." Ashley smiled, reaching up to plant a warm, gentle kiss on his cheek. "Just... come back safe. Don't leave me hanging."

Chris smiled. "I don't plan to."

"Are you lovebirds almost done? Let's get a move on already." Emily rolled her eyes. "The quicker we grab that psychopath the quicker I can get the fuck out of here. I need a bath, like... SO bad."

—

The sound of lone footsteps and dripping against hard floor echoed rhythmically throughout the cave. Sam lead ahead with a torch in her hand, with Chris following her cautiously. The two ventured through the dark with hearts at their throats. "Josh?" Sam called out tentatively, her words bounced off the cold cave walls and was lost in the deafening silence.

"Goddammit… Where the fuck is he?" Chris looked around anxiously. Rotten wooden planks and ancient relics of what's left of the mine collapse slowly came into view as the trembling fire lit upon them. An overpowering stench of rotten corpses attacked their senses. "Fuck…"

"Here it is." Sam jogged ahead, circling around the grotesque body of the flamethrower man hung upon the meat hook. "Here's where we last found Josh." She covered her nose with her sleeves as she lit up the disgusting scene.

Chris gagged, turning around to dry heave. "Oh my god." He coughed, his stomach churning. "Thats-"

"Yeah."

"I'm gonna be sick… Wait."

A metal glint under the shadow of the old desk caught his eye. Chris walked over to investigate. "FUCK yes." Relief overcame him as he dragged an old shotgun out from under the table. He locked and loaded, laughing as he savoured the sweet sound of its clicks. " _NOW_ we're talking."

"Shotguns only slow him down, that's not going to be enough."

"Good enough for me." Chris mumbled under his breath.

"We need something… hotter. Fire. We need…" Her words trailed off as she laid her eyes on the flamethrower on the corpse's back. "Bingo."

Sam gave way and turned to give Chris a nod, he understood. He aimed his shotgun at the link of the hook and took a shot. The stiff body fell to the floor with a thud. "Sorry about the looting, man." Chris shuddered at the thought.

Sam peeled the flamethrower off his body and put it on, the comforting weight of it gave them the reassurance they needed. "Now let's see if she's still got it… Come on…" She aimed it at the open air and pulled the trigger, a satisfying roar of flames came out. " _YES!_ "

"Alright!" Chris cheered, high-fiveing Sam.

A familiar moaning was carried by the wind's howls to them. Sam shushed Chris and they stood, still in the silence, awaiting for it to sound again. A weak moaning and mumbling, coming from the opening ahead.

"JOSH!"

They raced towards the sound and found a bruised and beat up Josh writhing under the light showering down from the overhead opening of the cave. He was sobbing, whispering frantically to himself, clawing at the ground under him with bleeding nails. Scratches and cuts riddled his dirtied skin. "JOSHUA!" They called again, running towards him, but Josh seemed unaware of their presence.

Chris fell to the ground before him, grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. Sam knelt beside them with her ears pricked and her hand tight on her flamethrower. "Josh? Bro it's- It's Chris! Chris and Sam w-we've come to get you out of here-"

Josh's eyes were unfocused, distraught, he looked up at Chris but saw beyond him. "Nono.. no… Stupid.. STUPID-" He lashed out at Chris, breathing heavy, and pushed him away. Josh cried. " _STOP_ DOING THIS TO ME! I KNOW WHAT I DID-"

"What's _happening_ to him?!" Chris panicked.

"He must be tripping out again." Sam said calmly. "He was like this when Mike and I first found him."

" _STOP!_ CHRIS. _STOP HAUNTING ME._ " Josh screamed, his voice cracking. "I _FUCKED_ UP. I'm.. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm so- I-I'M SORRY OKAY?! JUST- _STOP!_ Stop stop stopstopstop…"

" _JOSH!_ "

"Stop… yelling at me…" Josh fell to his knees again and broke down in tears. "It was just- j- just a prank, I never wanted to hurt him… God, not Chris- he didn't do wrong-"

"Fuck." Chris tried to swallow the lump at his throat. "I can't look at this."

"I just- I wanted so… BAD for Chris. Chris and Ash. Chris... Chris is so _FUCKING_ DUMB." Josh snapped again, screaming at the open air before suddenly punching himself in the face, physically wrestling with his own conscious. He whimpered, blood dripped from his mouth. "No, nononono I didn't ruin this I- I _DIDN'T_. I gave him a reason- I just wanted to give…"

"Josh, look at me." Sam reached out to cup Josh's bruised cheeks, pulling him uputo face her. She spoke gently, slowly. "You're going to be fine. We're here to take you home."

Josh stared blankly at Sam. "Sam…" He breathed, something suddenly alight in his eyes. "I don't… You always come. Why?"

"Because we're your friends, Josh." Chris spurted a broken laugh, trying to choke back the tears welling up inside him.

"Sam. Sammy. Samantha… Samantha understood. Samantha tried to stop them. She did. Sam… Sam she cared. I swear… Right?"

Sam smiled. "You know I do."

"Right…" Josh grinned weakly. Tears washing away the blood and dirt on his face. "Chris… Sam… Y-You're here."

Chris laughed. He patted Josh's shoulder, patted his face, held tightly onto the warmth of his familiar touch. "Yes… Yes! We're here man, and we're gonna get you out of here-"

A snarl sounded behind them, and the cold had suddenly returned to the cave. They turned to face the twisted, pale creature slowly stalking towards them. "Oh shit." Sam whispered.

"No- You can't. You can't hurt them." Josh growled, shakily getting to his feet. "You CAN'T. HURT ME. YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"

The Wendigo screamed back, launching towards them. Chris aimed his shotgun at it and fired, throwing it back against the cave wall. "FUCK!" He shouted, reloading as Sam got up to pull Josh away towards the opening of the cave. "We need to get out of here, ASAP!"

Chris aimed his shotgun at the Wendigo once more but was out-run by it's speed. The Wendigo smacked the gun away from his hands and threw Chris against the wall. He landed with a hard thud and let out a weak grunt. As the Wendigo began to approach its prey, Sam seized its attention. "HEY ASSHOLE!" She yelled.

The Wendigo turned to face Sam, who stood before it with her massive flamethrower trigger-ready. She threw a blast of flames at the creature and it screamed in agony, crawling away erratically as it was set aflame. Sam pulled Chris up and helped him limp towards the light. Gusts of wind began to blow down upon them, and the sounds of rescue rung throughout the opening.

"Get their attention and help Josh- _OOFT!_ " Her words were cut short by the Wendigo, burnt and staggering, lauching towards her. Swiping down with its huge, bloodied claws and throwing her out of the way. It growled menacingly and caught Chris by the throat, lifting his writhing body off the ground and holding him above Josh.

Josh shook his head, stammering backwards. "Let him go-"

The Wendigo screamed at him.

"I said let him GO!" Josh tackled, knocking it back a feeble few steps. The Wendigo was clearly annoyed at the attempt.

" _YOU'RE NOT HANNAH!_ " Josh shouted, his voice firm and powerful over the roar of the helicopter and the vicious screams of the Wendigo. " _YOU'RE NOT MY SISTER!_ And I won't let you CONTROL ME _ANYMORE!_ "

At those words, a sudden ball of fire lit upon the Wendigo's back. It cried in agony as it sizzled under the heat. It let go of Chris and he fell beside Josh, holding his bruised throat and coughing, gasping for air. Josh picked up Chris' shotgun as Sam continued to fire her flamethrower at the beast with full blast.

"Leave. Us. _ALONE!_ " He yelled, pulling the trigger.

Shotgun shells hailed towards the Wendigo's face and blew its head off. Rotten blood splattered the cave and the sound of its cries finally died, once and for all.

Josh dropped the shotgun, and stood in stunned silence. Sam shrugged her flamethrower off and ran over to help Chris up to his feet. Chris leant with his arm over her shoulder and limped towards Josh. "That… Might have been the most badass thing I've ever seen in my life. Period." Chris said in awe.

"Josh? Are you ok?" Sam asked tentatively.

"I…" Josh panted. Rubbing his face with bloodied hands. "I'm… better."

A ladder lowered itself down from the helicopter. The sweet sound of their friends calling out to them from above finally laid all this pain to rest. "Come on, let's go home." Chris patted his friend on the back and ushered him towards their exit.

"Chris…" Josh began. "I'm sorry. For everything I did. I am- I... I was just so caught up on everything-"

"Hey. It's okay." Chris smiled. "Besides. If it's any consolation, me and Ash did actually hooked up. You're like, simultaneously the worst AND the best wingman ever."

Josh chuckled. "I hope this hasn't kicked me off your wedding invitation list."

"Are you kidding me? You'll always be my best friend. AND best man. I'd never kick you off anywhere."

Chris pulled Josh into his arms for a tight embrace.

"But you bet your crazy ass I _will_ be kicking you into therapy, whether you like it or not. Deal?"

"Deal."


End file.
